Sonic the Hedgehog
|creator = |gender = Male |homeland = |kindred = |race = Hedgehog |forms = |voiceactor = Ryan Drummond (1998-2004) Jason Griffith (2005-2010) Roger Craig Smith (2010-present) }}Sonic the Hedgehog is the protagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and the star of many games made by SEGA as well as their mascot. Both are a onetime major competitor with Nintendo in the video game console wars of the 1990s. Sonic was often viewed as the counterpart to Mario, each representing their respective rival company in the video game market, though because of the "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games" series hasn't been proven to be canon or non-canon yet, no one can say for sure that the two great heroes have met yet. Because of his new position as a freelancer, with connections to Nintendo, Sonic has finally made his long-awaited first appearance alongside Mario, as well as co-stars of both, in the Wii game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and the game began to have sequels. Role in the Console Wars Super Mario had taken the gaming industry by storm, but Sega was still eager to compete. Having seeing the profit a successful video game system could be, they had internal competitions on who would be the new mascot, to replace Alex Kidd. A drawing of a hedgehog on a piece of napkin, dubbed "Mr. Needlemouse" at the time, was the winner. Fleshing out his color to blue to match the Sega logo (i.e., Mario is red due to Nintendo's original logo color, red), giving him Michael Jackson-esque shoes, and asserting an "attitude" like Bill Clinton's "let's get it done" attitude to streamline his character, Sonic the Hedgehog, introduced to the world in 1991, marked the first time someone besides Mario was the best seller. The Sonic series soon took over the top slot for best selling franchise, with a combined total of sales throughout the era at a minimum of 24.26 million units sold, toppling Mario's count. This led to Sega overtaking Nintendo for the fourth generation of consoles with a 65% lead being the climax, leading Mario to earn himself a rival greater than Bowser. This led to the popular image of Mario vs. Sonic, a fierce rivalry that is generally seen to last until the end. However, Sega would lose its edge when they cut support for the Sega Genesis in 1996, the same year that Virtua Fighter 3 was released. Sonic would remain absent throughout the Sega Saturn, albeit several side-adventures. This is often cited as one of the reasons the Sega Saturn failed. Sega realized this, and attempted to mend the lack of Sonic games by launching their final system, the Dreamcast, with the first mainstream 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure. It soon would be followed by Sonic's last mascot game, Sonic Adventure 2. Since then, after the death of the Sega Dreamcast, Sonic has been a free-lance franchise, feeling notably comfortable on Nintendo systems, finally putting an end to Sonic and Mario's rivalry. Sonic has since then had the most exclusives on Nintendo systems. History ''Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest'' Sonic's first All-Mario Game appearance was in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest where his shoes make a brief cameo in In Cranky Kong's video game hero contest where his shoes are next to a trash can along with former video game Mascot Earthworm Jim's gun showing that they failed to become great heroes. Super Smash Bros. series Sonic was confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl on October 10, 2007 by Masahiro Sakurai on the official website, being the second third party character that appeared in a Super Smash Bros. game. Also appearing as an Assist Trophy is Shadow the Hedgehog. In Sonic's final smash, he turns into Super Sonic and his attacks are powered up and he can fly for a short period of time, also he cannot be killed no matter how far off the blast zone he is, and he cannot taunt. Interestingly enough, Sonic had a small role in the last part of the Subspace Story, rather he appeared in the last minute as a playable character. Supposedly, he was just hanging around when caught in the explosion and investigated to find why he was here, and how to get out, and he just happened to find Tabuu. In the sequel he was confirmed on October 1, 2013 as a playable character, making him the first third-party character to appear in multiple installments of this series. Trophy Sticker ''Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U'' Sonic reappears in Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U where he is now a starter character. Sonic retains most of his moves from Brawl. Mario and Sonic series Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games “Mario and Sonic have been respectful rivals since the early days of video games. In fact, for a long time they have been discussing the possibility of one day competing against each other. Now that they have been given the perfect opportunity to meet at the Olympic Games, we may finally learn who is actually faster, Mario or Sonic?” —Shigeru Miyamoto Profile The fastest hedgehog in the world, this little blue speed demon often gets going so fast, he appears to be just a whirling blur. He'll usually be found in front of any of the speed-based events in these Olympic Games, and will be very difficult to catch in any of the short-distance sprints. Statistics Powers and Abilities *'Superhuman Speed': Sonic's main ability is his trademark running speed. Sonic has shown that he can easily surpass the speed of sound. Though his top speed is unknown, he has an average of 760-765 mph. *'Superhuman Agility': Sonic has shown that he is very agile. In most games, by preforming amazing feats that would require Superhuman Agility. *'Superhuman Reflexes': Granted by his superhuman speed, Sonic has shown that he possess superhuman reflexes. He is able to dodge gunfire from enemies robots and strikes from beings with Superhuman Speed. *'Superhuman Durability': Sonic has an incredible durability rate. He has withstood being dropped from great heights, struck by beings with superhuman strength, and even blasted with large amounts of energy and has come out with mild damage. Gallery Artwork Sonic SSBB-1.png|''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' Sonic MSOG-1.png|''Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games'' Sonic MSOG-2.png|''Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games'' Sonic MSOG-3.png|''Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games'' Sonic MSOWG-1.png|''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games'' Sonic MSOWG-2.png|''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games'' Sonic MSOWG-3.jpg|''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games'' Sonic MSOWG-4.png|''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games'' Sonic MSOLG.png|''Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games'' Sonic SSB4.png|Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U Sonic.png|''Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games'' Sprites/Models File:Sonic SSBB-2.jpg|''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' External Links *Sonic on Sonic News Network Navigation de:Sonic the Hedgehog pl:Sonic the Hedgehog it:Sonic the Hedgehog pt-br:Sonic fr:Sonic fi:Sonic the Hedgehog Category:Super Smash Characters Category:Characters in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Category:Characters not from the Mario Universe Category:Heroes Category:Allies Category:Male Characters